* The World Bank (WB) has released a report detailing the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on inequality in Colombia, warning that inequality has been both deepened and entrenched since March 2020. The report notes that Colombia’s Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality in which 0 indicates perfect equality and 1 equals maximal inequality) rose from 0.53 in 2019 to 0.54 in 2020, equating to a further 3.6m people living in poverty. Over the same period, the WB states that extreme poverty increased by 5.5 percentage points, with an additional 2.8m people unable to meet their basic needs compared with before the pandemic. The report voices concern that this heightened inequality could persist in the long term, warning that the closure of schools has exacerbated disparities that will continue into adulthood for many children, with
“future jobs being out of reach of many, due to the slow adoption of new technologies among disadvantaged groups.”End of preview - This article contains approximately 159 words.
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